


Poems, Prayers & Promises

by Cyanne



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-02
Updated: 2011-07-02
Packaged: 2017-10-20 23:06:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/218070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyanne/pseuds/Cyanne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An accidental proposal followed by a surprise wedding. It said volumes about his life. Their lives. And there wasn't a thing in the universe he'd trade it for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Poems, Prayers & Promises

"I'm just going to poke my head in for one second and then we can go home. These damn signatures keep fading in and out but if I don't check, it'll be something, it never fails," Rodney said in the general direction of his team. Teyla and Ronon had already preceded them down the path and John was a bit behind him.

"Rodney, wait up. Since when do you go off... "

Rodney waved his free hand in Sheppard's general direction as he entered the white stone building. The building looked like any number of temples on any number of worlds, the white stone, the archway, the faded Ancient writing around the entranceway, it all screamed place of worship to McKay's admittedly jaded mind. And sometimes those Ancient places of worship yielded some pretty sweet Ancient technology. With the ever growing possibility of being cut off from Earth, he didn't dare take the chance on missing out on a ZPM or something else that could wind up saving their asses.

The energy signature on his tablet had faded out again and in frustration he turned a slow full circle just inside the entranceway. The screen lit up with a brief promise of the elusive signal right before the entire building collapsed around him. One minute he was glaring at his stubbornly blank tablet and the next he was flat on his back underneath what felt like a ton of rubble.

He could hear John's voice frantically calling his name and it gave him something to focus on. Rodney very carefully tried to push against the debris that was covering him and was rewarded as the rock shifted. Wanting to reassure John that he was still alive, he caught his breath and tried to answer, only to be interrupted by uncontrollable sneezing. That motion pushed more of the stone free and Rodney realized that he wasn't actually being crushed under tons of rock. Even better, he could breathe relatively freely.

He pushed against the rubble again and was surprised to find that it was lightweight and easily moved. His fingers brushed against the hand that was desperately searching for him.

"Rodney?" John called out again. It hurt Rodney to hear the fear and desperation in his voice.

"Right here," Rodney managed to get out as he coughed again. He grabbed onto John's hand as tightly as he could. "Pull me out," he ordered.

"Are you sure? Ronon and Teyla are on their way back, just hang on for a minute. It'll be alright." John tried to reassure him but Rodney wanted out of there now.

"Trust me, John, just pull." Rodney felt as though he was flying through the air for a brief second, then being crushed tightly against John's chest. The remains of the walls that had been covering him scattered and white clouds of dust puffed up around them.

"Rodney," John whispered in his hair. "I thought... you scared the hell out of me." John hugged him even tighter.

Rodney hugged back for a minute and then let go. "I'm fine. Scared the hell out of me too and my back's probably going to be killing me later... oh shit, I think I landed on my tablet."

Stepping out of John's embrace, he started digging through the mess to find his computer.

"What just happened?" John asked, using his command voice with the implied _what did you do_ hanging in the air.

"I didn't touch anything. I didn't have time to. I was just standing here with the scanner running, and boom." Rodney picked up a piece of the white stuff and tossed it in the air. It floated to the ground. "It's Styrofoam, or what passes for it around here."

"I think you trashed somebody's playhouse," John said with a trace of a smile. "At least no one's around to shove you in a locker as revenge."

Only half listening Rodney replied absently, "Reliving your misspent youth, Colonel?" He checked the tablet even though he knew it was pointless. Sure enough, the energy signal was completely gone. It had probably been a decoy, just like the facsimile of a building.

"That's it," Rodney declared. "I am never entering another temple or place of worship ever again. I don't care if there are four fully charged ZPMs, a lifetime supply of personal shields, and the ultimate question of the life, universe, and everything. Never again. Damn things are death traps."

"Not even if I asked you to marry me?"

"Especially not then," Rodney answered vehemently as he resisted the urge to shake his now useless tablet. Damn things stopped working too easily and he was tired of wasting time repairing and rebuilding them.

He barely heard John's quiet "oh," but did register his footsteps moving away. Instinctively, he reached out to grab his arm and pull John back towards him.

"Wait, are you proposing because I almost died? I mean, I know I suck at this whole relationship thing, although not as badly as you, and even I know imminent death or the fear thereof is a really bad reason. And you do realize that it's because of hanging around with you that I seem to almost die on a weekly basis. You're a very bad influence, Colonel. "

"Not sure that avoiding either temples or me would be of any real help, McKay. Last time we explored the city you got us locked in a lab."

"The only dangerous thing about that was the threat of dying of boredom. My laptop got fried and you slept through the whole thing. And how was I supposed to know that was a one way door?"

"I was knocked unconscious. Not exactly my fault, I might add. I wasn't the one touching things," John said smugly. "And I'm not sure I'd want to spend the rest of my life with someone who's that impulsive anyway."

"Pot, kettle. And you were reaching for it. I just got there first for a change." Rodney said, waving a hand in John's direction. Now he was regretting having brought it up as he really didn't want to think about it. They had had been as safe as they could be considering they had been locked in a room, no risk of drowning or electrocution or anything like that, but an unconscious John always scared the hell out of Rodney. In truth, he'd spent most of the time checking to make sure John was still breathing and if he did it obsessively every minute and finally wound up holding John's hand in his with his finger on John's pulse point, well, he didn't really need to know that.

"And anyway... "

Rodney tuned him out as he finally made the connection John had actually meant it and Rodney had blown him off and now John was stalling and shit he had to fix this. Now. It was obvious that John was trying to brush it off and in that instant Rodney realized how much he wanted it.

"Rodney, John, are you alright?"

"What did you blow up this time, McKay?"

Ronon stuck his head in through the archway, which was the only part of the building that remained standing. Teyla glanced up at the stones and then carefully made her way around it to where John and Rodney were standing. The dust stirred up by their arrival set Ronon coughing and Rodney was secretly glad it wasn't just him. He supposed he should be worried about the local equivalent of asbestos and chronic lung damage but he had a more important concern at the moment.

"Where have you been? Never mind. Glad you're here, now go away." He was glad that they were safe, and any other time he would have been more than happy to have the entire team together. But it was going to be difficult enough to talk about this with John, almost impossible with an audience, even if it consisted of two of their closest friends.

"Rodney?" Teyla asked in her gentle voice.

"We're fine, just give us a few minutes. We'll meet you at the gate." He gave Teyla a wan smile. "Please."

"John?" Teyla asked.

"What Rodney said," was the terse reply and Rodney could tell his smile was forced. Shit, he really needed to talk to him and now.

"We'll meet you back at the gate." Teyla said in her _I do not want to know what you two are fighting about now but you better have it fixed before we leave here_ tone of voice and Rodney had learned years ago not to mess with that. It was scary how well they knew each other, but comforting as well.

Teyla handed a still coughing Ronon her canteen and they headed off.

Rodney put down his tablet, shrugged off his backpack and reached out for John who had turned and was standing very close to the remains of the archway. "I wouldn't lean on that if I were you. It's not too stable."

"What was that all about, McKay? Is there anything of any value here or can we go home now? It's going to be a long night of paperwork and politics as it is." He started pulling away but Rodney tightened his grip on John's arm. Might as well put his field training to good use.

"Let go of me, Rodney." John didn't sound angry, just weary.

"No. Come here and look at me," he ordered, tugging on John's jacket until the other man finally turned around. "Do you have to make everything difficult? Don't answer that, I know you."

Rodney had both of his hands on both of John's shoulders although the other man was just standing there, not moving away but not leaning into his embrace either.

"It was just a joke, McKay."

"I don't think so. You don't say much that's important, but when you do, you mean what you say."

"I don't say anything important," John said slowly, steel in his voice.

"That's not what I meant, ah, fuck," Rodney was getting frustrated now. "Important as in deep." John was still glaring at him. "You're not stupid."

Under his breath John muttered, "Thanks, Rodney."

"Important as in emotional. Never mind that. Anyway, you..." Rodney took a deep breath, this was important and he didn't think they were going to get a second chance if he screwed this up. "It sounded more like something you've been thinking about saying that finally slipped out. And I'm glad you said it because I've been trying to get up the nerve to figure how to ask you about being exclusive."

John took a step back and said in his calm voice, the one that usually promised violence in its wake. "I thought we were exclusive. I know you like to think that I'll fuck anything that moves but there hasn't been anyone else for me for a long time, Rodney. Since before we got together." John was almost yelling at this point, and if Rodney had harbored any doubts about the depth of John's feelings, the emotion in his voice quieted them.

Rodney had no idea how things had gotten out of hand so quickly. He took a deep breath. "Stop. Just stop for a minute. I don't want to fight with you, there's nothing to fight about. I know you've been faithful. So have I. I just wanted something more permanent. With you." He took both of John's hands in his. "I love you."

"Rodney, I ..."

"I know, you don't have to actually say it."

"But..."

"You've been showing me for years." At John's disbelieving look continued, "Okay, fine, it took me a while to catch on, but I got it." John kept looking at him. "Oh for..." Rodney huffed. "Jeannie might have nudged me in the right direction. Happy now?"

"Very." John was smirking again and damn it, had once more managed to get him off track. Nobody was better than John Sheppard when it came to finding ways to not talk about something. But at least they weren't arguing anymore.

"I won't even ask you to ask me again. Just tell me if you meant it."

John squeezed Rodney's hands. "More than anything."

"I'm going to hold you to it."

"You haven't answered my question yet."

"Of course I'll marry you, you crazy, crazy man." Rodney reached up and gently brushed some of the white dust off John's face. Cupping his hand around John's head he brought their lips together for a kiss that started out sweet and quickly progressed into something much hotter.

Several minutes later both men were breathing hard. Rodney was barely coherent enough to ask, "Can we go home and have premarital sex now?"

"Hell, yeah, " was John's enthusiastic reply.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"So we're really going to do this?" John asked. He had told himself repeatedly that he wasn't going to push it but he was getting tired of waiting for Rodney to speak up. The fact that Rodney hadn't brought it up it probably wasn't a good sign and it had gotten to the point where if John was going to get his heart broken, he might as well get it over with.

"It's a little too late to back out now, " Rodney said quietly, idly running his hands all over John's body as they lay scrunched up together in Rodney's too small bed. That hadn't been quite the enthusiastic response John had been hoping for, but it was better than an outright refusal. Tonight was the first chance they really had to spend any quality time together. The past few weeks had been a blur of missions, late night work and early morning policy meetings punctuated by quick makeout sessions and the occasional conversation in a crowded mess hall during the rare occasions they were able to eat at the same time.

Rodney continued before John could figure out exactly what to say. His lover's touch was so distracting that it was a wonder he hadn't lost track of the conversation entirely.

"The referendum passed with over 92 percent and the morons who opposed it are packing up as we speak and are going back tomorrow when we transmit the declaration through. I just hope Elizabeth has enough sense to send them through first. Last thing we need is a riot."

John apparently wasn't the only one who had lost track of the conversation. Again beating him to the punch, Rodney sat up suddenly and rolled over on top of John. Putting his hands of either side of John's chest and pinning him to the bed he said, "Tell me you voted yes?"

"Of course I voted yes," John answered, incredulous at the thought that Rodney could think otherwise. "Hell Rodney, I helped write the entire section on the military code. And I know we were a bit drunk at the time, but I'm pretty sure the entire senior staff, _including me_ was there when we hatched this insane plan."

"It's not insane. Well, okay yes, it is insane but it's well thought out and it's going to work. It has to. Because the alternative is the SGC coming through and taking the city by force and that is not going to happen."

The sheer number of contingency plans he, Lorne, Teyla and Elizabeth had worked out would guarantee that they would keep control of Atlantis, they just all hoped it wouldn't come to that. "How did we get onto this topic? And why are you still looming over me?"

"You started it, remember? And I'm not looming, I'm just.... enjoying the view."

"Not intentionally. And you know you can touch instead of just looking. Anywhere you want," John said, grinding his hips up against Rodney's cock in way of enticement.

Obviously not willing to let go of an argument he no doubt thought he was winning, Rodney said, "You did so ask if we were really going to do this... wait. You.." he poked John in the chest. "Were you asking about Atlantis or us?"

John closed his eyes and said slowly. "I meant us. We've been building towards this for a while, all of it, but I wasn't sure if you still wanted..." For once Rodney didn't fill in the silence. Keeping his eyes closed John continued, "That was two weeks ago and you didn't say anything and I thought..."

The touch of Rodney's lips on his was a welcome presence and he opened his own, pouring everything he had into the kiss. He could feel Rodney smiling against his lips and then a fingertip lightly tracing his eyelids.

"Idiot," Rodney said, and only he could make that word sound fond. "Like the wild monkey sex wasn't a giveaway."

"We have wild monkey sex every chance we get. And probably will keep on having it. But that doesn't necessarily mean anything else." And John knew he was being a coward by avoiding saying the words again but he couldn't make himself do it. Even though he knew it could cost him everything.

"See, I'd be crazy to give that up. And it's not like you said anything either."

"I proposed. You accepted. Pretty sure the next step is yours."

"What next step would that be, John? I wasn't expecting you to ask me to marry you. I actually never expected any of this," he said, gesturing in the small space between himself and John.

"I won't hold you to it if you really don't want to, Rodney." John almost laughed, there was no making Rodney do something he really didn't want to, although the Rodney he was curled up with was not the McKay of four years ago. This Rodney, his Rodney, had been known to put other's happiness above his own and John knew full well he was on the top of that list. And vice versa. John might not have thought out the proposal before he said the words, but now he wanted it. Wanted Rodney to be his.

"Never said I didn't want it. Just never thought I'd actually get it. Get you."

There was a long pause where Rodney just looked at John. He wondered what the other man was thinking but John was willing to wait.

"You know, now that we're going to be our own country, world, whatever, we can have the wedding here, if you want. I don't think we could get back to Earth if we wanted to. Not and be sure that we could get back and that's not a risk I'm willing to take."

"Me neither." Wanting to be held but not about to ask for it, John rolled them over so that Rodney was on the bottom and laid his head on his lover's chest. Rodney wrapped one hand around John's back and pulled him closer.

"Do you want something formal?" John asked.

"No, not really. My parents had a huge expensive wedding and their marriage was a disaster. Jeannie did the city hall thing and she and Kaleb seem to work, although I haven't got a clue why. It's enough for me if it's just us, unless you want something big."

John relieved, that was exactly what he had been hoping for. "Saying the vows to each other works for me. We can always have a party or something afterward."

"I think we'd have a mob coming after us if we didn't do _something_. But yeah, I don't really want to deal with flowers and suits and all that."

"But we should do it on Atlantis though." John started idly tracing circles on Rodney's stomach. It hadn't taken him long to figure out exactly how much pressure made him feel good, and how much turned ticklish, depending on how John wanted to tease him.

"Definitely. This is home. Has been for a long time, almost since we got here, but it's really home now."

"East pier?"

"No, the weather is too unpredictable. It'll probably be raining down buckets. And with my luck a wave will come and wash you out to sea and I'll be a widower two minutes into our marriage."

"There's that optimism that you're so famous for." That remarked earned him a flick of fingers on his head. "Hey, no rough stuff," John said with a laugh. He thought for a minute then figured he might as well go for broke.

"Jumper Bay?"

Rodney actually appeared to think about that for a minute instead of dismissing it out of hand like John had expected.

"No. I know it's one of your favorite places but between Carson having to shock you back to life and your flying off to attack hive ships and attempt daredevil rescues, it's not where I want to get married. I've watched you almost die there too many times."

There was no way John could argue with that. It would be like asking Rodney to go back to the lab with the nanites or the room with the Ascension machine. Not that John was in a hurry to go back to either place himself.

"Okay, that's out. In front of the gate?"

"As romantic as that is, I have three words for you. Unscheduled Offworld Activation."

Crap. In less than a minute Rodney had shot down John's three best ideas.

"But the gateroom has potential," Rodney mused.

"The balcony," both said at the same time, accompanied by Rodney's snapping fingers.

"I suppose you tossing me over it counts as carrying me over the threshold," Rodney said. "Seems like that was ages ago."

And in some ways it seemed like yesterday and in others it was literally a lifetime ago, before he'd found his home and his family halfway across the universe from his birth home.

"There we go, doing things out of order again," John said, moving up to look at Rodney while letting his hand wander further down Rodney's naked body. They had gotten in the habit of sleeping in the nude together, although it had taken John awhile to get used to it. Rodney had finally convinced him that it was unlikely the city would sink in the five seconds it would take him to pull pants on in an emergency.

"What else is new? We've been making it all up as we go along." Rodney's reached down to cup John's ass. "There's something else we could do out of order."

"What did you have in mind Dr. McKay? Or should I say Dr. Sheppard?"

"Something lewd and no doubt illegal on several planets, Colonel McKay."

They looked at each other for a moment and then burst out laughing, Rodney shaking so hard with it that he almost knocked John out of the bed.

"Okay, no," John said, grabbing on to Rodney so he wouldn't fall out. Taking shameless advantage of the fact that Rodney's lips were close to his he kissed him long and deep. "I want you inside me," he whispered.

"Come up here, then," Rodney told him, guiding John to lay on top of his body. "Like this. Want you to ride me."

With Rodney's hands on his hips anchoring him, then urging him forward to lean over him. John put his hands on either side of Rodney's head and gave himself up to his lover. Rodney took full advantage of their position to lick and suck on John's nipples.

John reveled in the feel of Rodney's fingers inside of him, wet and slippery and oh so slowly opening him up. He rarely rushed, preferring to drive John crazy with just his fingers before taking him with his cock.

Inch by inch Rodney slowly slid in, filling John completely. John's erection was trapped between them, delicious friction as he rubbed himself against Rodney's stomach and then backward onto the cock impaling him.

"Damn I love this. You're so hot like this. Want to watch you come. Want to feel your come on me, love being so deep in you. I love making you lose it, that I can do that to you. That you let." The sound of Rodney's voice combined with a few more strokes from his cock and John was coming all over the both of them.

"Yeah, that's it," Rodney murmured and then John felt Rodney's heat flooding him. He collapsed on top of Rodney, letting Rodney's strong arms wrap around him as both their heartbeats returned to normal. John planted soft kisses along the soft skin on Rodney's neck, tempted to leave his mark behind but not wanting to hear the teasing from their team the next day.

As they rearranged themselves carefully on the bed, both lying on their sides with John wrapped around Rodney's back, John couldn't help the hiss of pained breath that escaped. Rodney, of course, reacted quickly.

"Did I hurt you?"

"It's the good kind of sore. I'm fine."

Rodney huffed at him. John was well aware of what that meant, having been on the receiving end of several lectures on how he was no longer allowed to use the words 'I'm fine' ever again.

"It happens to be true. Well fucked and happy and more then fine, okay?" He tightened his grip around Rodney's waist to get him to stay put.

Just when he was drifting off to sleep he heard Rodney say softly, "There is one thing that I really want. If you're okay with it. You're going to laugh, though."

"I won't, I promise. Unless you want me wearing a white dress with flowers in my hair."

"John..." Rodney warned.

"I promise," John replied, meaning it this time. Even if Rodney had changed his mind and decided that he wanted a big public wedding in front of the entire Pegasus Galaxy, he'd go through with it. John would hate it, but he'd go along with it if it would make Rodney happy.

"I want a ring. And I want to give you one, too."

John sighed in relief. Rodney, obviously taking it the wrong way, poked him. "That's worse than laughing," Rodney accused him. Then quieter "Never mind, it was a dumb idea."

"Rodney, that's not what I meant. I thought you changed your mind and wanted a big wedding. Rings are totally doable." John thought for a minute. "We've got several trading missions coming up and there's bound to be jewelry in some of the marketplaces."

Most of the teams were being sent out to either reaffirm existing trade deals or establish new ones. Atlantis was in pretty good shape when it came to supplies but there was a big difference between holding out until the next Dadealus run and being self sufficient. Depending on how their declaration of independence went over back on Earth they could very well be cut off completely. Elizabeth was hoping to negotiate trades with the SGC and by extension the Earth nations involved with the SGC but there was no guarantee they would even get to that stage.

It occurred to John that they had settled all the details but the most important one, the date. "When do you want to do this?"

"Leave it to me, I'll let you know."

Somehow that didn't worry John as much as it probably should have. An accidental proposal followed by a surprise wedding. It said volumes about his life. Their lives. And there wasn't a thing in the universe he'd trade it for.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

"Now? You want to do this now?" John's voice went up an octave in obvious disbelief.

"It's perfect, trust me. Now come on while everyone's distracted." Rodney grabbed John's arm and practically dragged him out of the room but not before Elizabeth gave them a _look_. She probably thought they were sneaking out to have sex but Rodney didn't really care. They'd be back in plenty of time for the endless speechifying that was scheduled for later in the evening.

"You could warn a person," John complained.

"That would only have given you time to freak out." John looked at him and Rodney stared him down. "You know I'm right."

John looked at Rodney and then himself, gesturing toward their uniforms.

"Thought you didn't want anything formal. Besides, this is us." Rodney reached up to touch John's new expedition patch, the recently designed Atlantian flag with a watermark of the American flag. It had been the compromise between those who wanted just the new flag and those who didn't want to leave Earth behind all together. Rodney gave it six months before the old flags were removed entirely.

"I set the cameras to play a taped loop from three nights ago when absolutely nothing happened. I may have also routed the actual camera to my laptop."

"What about Chuck?"

"I told him I'd cover for him so he could get to the party early, shift change isn't for 20 minutes so we're good. Took me a while to convince him I was serious. He got suspicious and I almost had to offer the last of the Bass Ale."

"That's my beer, you know."

"What's yours is mine. Besides, it's all going to be in the same place come tomorrow night anyway. Just saw the room reallocation and we got the suite on the west side."

"And you had nothing to do with it."

"Consider it a wedding present," Rodney said smugly. He'd wait until later to let John know that it had cost them their stash of Toblerones. But it was definitely worth it to get a bed large enough for the two of them.

They nodded at the Marines patrolling the hallway and kept going, trying not to look like they were up to something.

"I can't believe that we're sneaking off to our own wedding," John said in a stage whisper and they both started laughing. Rodney wasn't sure who started it but like always, they seemed to be feeding off each other.

Up on their balcony, John took both Rodney's hands in his, like they had in the remains of the "temple" on PX9-438 where they'd gotten engaged. Rodney looked over the balcony railing to the dimly lit room below and the majestic stargate that dominated it, blue lights casting their glow over him and John. He turned his gaze to John, who had stood there patiently watching him.

"Ready?" John asked.

"Yeah. You want me to go first?"

John surprised Rodney by shaking his head. "No, I'll do it. It isn't going to be anything terribly romantic though." He squeezed Rodney's hands, took a deep breath and said, "I, John, take you Rodney, to be my partner in life, my lover and my friend. I promise to trust you and to love you, to be faithful to you, to share each day with you. I promise to support you in your endeavors, to protect you and catch you if you fall. I promise this 'til death separates..."

"No, " Rodney said suddenly. "You can't... I just... you can't." He didn't know where it came from but all of a sudden he realized that he just couldn't bear to hear John talk about dying.

"Rodney, you do not get to back out now," John looked hurt and confused and that was the last thing Rodney wanted.

"No, no, no backing out. Believe me, no backing out and I intended to make my vows to you. But you can't say that."

"It's tradition," John said with a soft smile, gently squeezing his hands.

Rodney glared at him. "Screw tradition. If there's anything we're not, it's traditional. You're not allowed to say that."

"I can't promise I won't die," John told him. "I would if I could but I couldn't promise you that even if we were stockbrokers back on Earth, let alone living all the way out here. And I can't say something to you and not mean it. Especially not here and now."

Rodney shuddered at the thought of either of them on Wall Street and it took his mind temporarily off the idea of John dying on him. But he wasn't about to let John off the hook.

"Just... skip that part, okay?" Rodney begged.

Then John surprised him yet again.

"For as long as you'll have me."

"Really?"

"Yeah." Rodney was stunned and almost speechless.

"I.. you know that means you're stuck with me for good."

John grinned at him. "Kinda the point of getting married, Rodney. Your turn."

"I, Rodney, take you, John," There was no way hell he was going to use the name Meredith and thankfully John had given him the out by not using his full name, "to be my husband, the love of my life and my best friend. I swear to stand by you in all your endeavors, to trust you and be faithful to you. I give you all that I have and all that I am, in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad. I promise you this for as long as you'll have me." Rodney knew a good thing when he heard it and he figured it was only fair to give John the same out. Not that he had any intention of ever letting him go.

As he finished, Rodney squeezed John's hands and leaned in almost shyly for a sweet, loving kiss. When they broke apart, John asked. "Did you remember to bring the rings?"

"Of course I remembered the rings."

John held out his hand expectantly. "Well..."

 _Crap._. He'd meant to put them in his pocket before they started but in the excitement of dragging John away from the party he'd completely forgotten. Rodney crouched down and started looking in the corner of the balcony.

"Rodney?" John asked and Rodney could just hear the humor in his voice. If he wasn't so frantic he'd be more upset at being teased.

"I stashed them up here, okay? I didn't want to lose them, or forget them or some other stupid thing," Rodney admitted grudgingly. It had seemed like a good idea at the time.

"And now you can't find them."

"And now I can't..." Rodney started to reluctantly agree. This was _not_ happening, he'd put them up here this morning exactly so they'd be safe. Where the hell were they? he thought.

"Aha." Rodney emerged triumphant, holding the small black box aloft.

On M96-196, also known as the planet of the stampeding wildebeests, they had found matching silver rings in the central marketplace. The rings had a wave pattern in black all the way around the band with black stars above the troughs of each wave.

"Where were we?" Rodney questioned.

"Rings, Rodney, " John said fondly. And the fact that John had a tone of voice just for Rodney reminded him how much he was loved every time he heard it.

"Right, of course. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to screw up our wedding."

"Nothing to apologize for. It's just us, and we're almost married." John held out his hand again and Rodney placed the ring in his palm.

Rodney took John's hand in his, slid the ring on the fourth finger of his left hand and said, "I give you this ring as a sign of my love and my commitment." He raised John's hand to his lips and kissed the silver band. John mirrored his actions with the same words and a kiss of his own.

"I love you, Rodney McKay."

"I would hope so."

"Rodney!"

"Yes, yes, I love you too." And then almost in a whisper, "more than anything."

They stood there in the semi-darkness for a long time sealing their vows with soft, loving kisses. Finally, John said, "I hate to say it but we better get back before they sent out a search party."

They were back at the entrance to the mess hall when Rodney realized they were still holding hands. He swung their joined hands between them and asked, "Sure you want to go in like this."

"I'm pretty sure people have figured out we're together by now."

They tried to sneak back into the main room unnoticed. They weren't successful. Rodney actually jumped when the room burst into applause, only to realize that Elizabeth was standing at the front of the room.

"Come on, there's got to be some food left. I'm starving." Newlywed or not, he had to keep up his strength.

"What is this, drag John all over Atlantis night?" John complained but followed Rodney anyway. They ran into Teyla close to where the food was set up and she immediately smiled when she saw them. She quickly noticed Rodney fiddling with the ring on his finger.

"We were wondering where you both were. I see that you chose to exchange vows on your own."

"Um, yeah, about that, Teyla," John started to explain. "It's not that we didn't want you guys there or that we didn't want you to know, it's just... well, you know how we are." That was a non-explanation if Rodney had ever heard one but he doubted he could do any better. And he wasn't crazy enough to try.

"Our name for what you have done is _athereia_." Seeing the confusion on John and Rodney's faces, Teyla explained. "When those desiring to bond expect resistance from their families, they will go off together and promise themselves to one another. Once it is done it cannot be undone, no matter who may wish to object. Sometimes these are the strongest bonds. I am happy for you both, as I am certain the rest of your family here on Atlantis will be."

Moving forward to Rodney first, she slowly bowed her head and waited for the traditional Athosian greeting. Rodney moved towards her and Teyla put up her hand, "Now as a bonded pair, you greet me together. John?" As the three leaned in together, Rodney could hear John swallow around the lump in his throat. It was fitting that Teyla be one of the first people to treat the two of them like a family.

 _Family. Oh hell. Jeannie._ Rodney thought as he picked up his head.

She was absolutely going to kill him even if she had to come all the way out here to do it. Rodney still hadn't figured out how to tell her that Atlantis had declared independence. They had argued in favor of having the expedition made public but lost that battle, although they had gotten almost everything else they'd demanded. Atlantis had been able to draft a constitution and set up its own military structure without being completely cut off from Earth. That had been the worst case scenario they had planned for.

Rodney had written Jeannie a cryptic goodbye note just in case it had all blown up in their faces. Now he not only had to explain that Atlantis had seceded, but also break the news that he was now a married man. Best bet was to build up to it; in the next data burst he'd tell her about independence, endure her wrath over the early goodbye note and _then_ he could tell her he was dating again. At that rate it should only take about a year or so to get to the part about how he was married. John would probably get a kick out of "helping" him write the emails.

"What she said," was the gruff agreement from Ronon as he gathered them both up in a bear hug.

They quickly found themselves surrounded by friends offering congratulations mixed with teasing. Carson slapped the both on the back and said that it was about bloody time. Lorne offered them both congratulations with only a slight smirk that probably meant that he thought his CO was crazy but Rodney was in too good of a mood to plot revenge.

When Rodney saw the look in Radek's eye he warned him, "If there was a betting pool, I don't want to know about it. But our cut had better be on my lab table tomorrow. We get ten percent of the take."

Radek opened his mouth to object but John cut him off. "I really wouldn't argue with him about this. What's his is mine now and I want my share, too." John put a possessive arm around Rodney's shoulder and he leaned back into his new husband's embrace.

Elizabeth also came over to congratulate them. "You'll need to stop by my office and sign a marriage certificate so we can enter it into the records. Our first official Atlantian marriage, I should have known it would be you two."

"We have a form for that?" Rodney asked, as he snagged a stuffed not-shrimp off the tray for himself and one for John.

"We will now. Thanks to you two it was just added to the list of forms we need to create, and since we've opened up the definition of marriage, it's not something we can borrow from the SGC. We're going to need an archivist eventually."

John sighed, "Independent for two hours and we're already a bureaucracy."

"And don't think I didn't notice that you managed to miss the official proclamation. Good thing I wasn't planning on calling on the Senior Staff to say a few words seeing as the heads of two of my departments were busy eloping at the time."

John and Rodney both had the grace to look ashamed. Elizabeth wasn't yelling though, and everyone was too happy about it being Independence Day, not to mention being more than slightly drunk at this point, for anyone to be truly angry. And then she hugged them both and laughed.

Seeing an escape, Rodney looked over her shoulder at the food table. "Hey, cake."

"Don't get any ideas about shoving a piece in my mouth," John warned. Rodney resisted the urge to point out that there was something else he'd rather be putting in John's mouth. Holding hands in public was one thing but explicit banter was something else. Besides, he wasn't too eager to share that part of John with anyone.

The party wound down as the hour grew late and the supply of food and alcohol dwindled. Rodney was exhausted and he found himself leaning on John.

"It was a nice wedding and all, but your timing sucks. You know there's no way we're going to get time off for a honeymoon seeing as we're in the middle of practically setting up our own country."

"Yeah, but at least we'll never forget our anniversary. I didn't want to wait too much longer, in case you changed you mind."

"Not a chance," John said and kissed him in front of everyone who was left.

Ignoring the catcalls, Rodney asked, "Does this mean we can go home and have married people sex now?"

"Oh, hell yes." John said, and dragged him out of the room.

\-------------------------------------------------

They had been married for all of three months when John found Rodney's wedding ring lying on the lab table.

It was long past anything resembling a reasonable bedtime, and that was saying something because between Atlantis and Rodney his definition of reasonable had gotten very flexible over the years. When he finally got off duty at 0330 and found their room empty, he had gone in search of his husband.

Knowing Rodney had spent most of the day there, John checked the jumper bay first. It was deserted of people but there was a large pile of tools stacked up haphazardly in the corner. Ignoring the avalanche hazard, he headed down to the main lab.

No Rodney but his laptop was still up and running. John wandered over to see if it was logged on or just open to a game of solitaire. Next to the keyboard, Rodney's ring glinted in the dim light.

John just stood there looking for a long moment before finally picking it up, cupping the cold metal in his hand before slipping it into his pocket. Absently he crossed his hands to touch the silver ring on his own finger. His mind was almost completely blank, a weariness that was more than simple exhaustion overwhelming him.

He gave up on his search and toggled his radio. "Are you coming home anytime tonight, McKay?" John tried desperately to keep the anger out of his voice, remembering all too well the arguments and accusations real and imagined that had characterized his parents' marriage.

"I'm down in the engineering lab. Fifteen more minutes and I'll quit for the night, promise."

"I'm holding you to that." But given the excitement in Rodney's voice he doubted he'd see the other man before dawn.

"I'll be home soon. Crap, don't tell me that crashed again."

Make that noon.

Heading back to their quarters John tried to repress thought that the honeymoon really was over already. It probably didn't mean anything, just because John hadn't taken his ring off since Rodney had put it on his finger didn't mean Rodney was any less committed.

It seemed like he was always having to keep himself from jumping to conclusions. John knew he was damn good at assessing the situation in the field and complete crap when it came to his personal life, but he loved Rodney, trusted Rodney and the thought of Rodney being done with him already made his heart hurt.

John laid down in the darkened room, closed his eyes and tried not to think. Sometime later he felt the bed dip and the warmth of a naked body along his. The usually welcome weight of Rodney's arm curled around his shoulder. And in the moment all of the confusion came rushing back.

"Why you wearing clothes," Rodney mumbled, exhaustion evident in his voice. "Supposed to be naked in bed." A warm hand reached into his boxers and stroked John's hip softly. John couldn't help pushing back toward Rodney, silently begging for more but Rodney just kept petting him gently.

"Take 'em off," Rodney ordered softly. It took a bit of wriggling around with Rodney touching him but not helping at all but John managed to do so. He was rewarded with a quiet, "Better." Hopefully this was going to lead to something but then John felt Rodney's head fall heavily onto his shoulder as his breathing evened out into sleep, hand still cupped around John's traitorously half-hard cock.

The fact that Rodney was obviously too wiped out to do anything tonight didn't necessarily mean anything either. John smiled grimly recalling their quickie in the jumper bay that morning. It had been had been Rodney's idea, too, he'd pounced on John as soon as he'd entered the cockpit.

"I know you've been wanting me on my knees in here," Rodney had said in that teasingly seductive way of his that John knew damn well no one else on Atlantis knew he was capable of. Rodney had blown John hard and fast, pressing him down into the pilot's seat. Somehow he'd managed to get John tucked back in, picked up a crystal and was ranting about shoddy ancient technology just in time as Radek came through the open jumper ramp. Under his breath he'd told John he could return the favor later. Apparently that wasn't going to happen tonight. Or possibly ever.

Resigned he reached down and dislodged Rodney's hand only to have him move his arm up to John's chest and pull John in closer. They'd slept curled up like this hundred of times before. Still confused, and utterly exhausted, John eventually fell asleep.

Only to be woken by a loud "Shit" accompanied by the shaking of their bed.

"What's wrong?" John asked, automatically reaching for his radio. He was treated to the sight of a stammering McKay and his really hot ass as he bent over to grab something off the floor.

"Nothing. I um, forgot something. In the lab. A very important something. Important. Not in a might blow up the city way, but close."

Hurriedly pulling on a pair of sweatpants and grabbing his bathrobe off the chair, Rodney dashed out the door, obviously not caring that he was barefoot, let alone that his hair was a mussed up mess.

Stunned, John hadn't even managed to stand up when the hurricane rushed back into the room and kissed him quickly. With an almost unintelligible "love you", Rodney ran back out.

Thoroughly bewildered, John hurriedly dressed in the grabbed the black shirt and pants he had worn the day before and followed Rodney.

They wound up in the main lab. By the time John got there, Rodney was frantically rooting through stacks of paper and hardware, moving coffee cups around and mumbling to himself. "I know it's here, it has to be here, this was the last place... oh crap, maybe it's in the other lab. Or the jumper bay, but I had it at dinner..."

Rodney turned around and ran smack into John.

"Um, hi."

"Hi yourself."

"I thought you went back to bed. You should go back to bed, I'll be right there."

"Kinda cold since my space heater took off on me. Looking for something?" John asked, as casually as he could considering how fast his heart was racing.

"No." And that was Rodney's guilty voice for sure. "Really. Nothing at all. Just, experiment, you know."

John was almost giddy with relief and he could not stop smiling. As entertaining as it was to watch Rodney squirm, he figured he'd better let him off the hook before the other man had an aneurysm.

"So you wouldn't be missing something round and shiny?" John reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the ring he'd picked up the night before.

"Oh thank goodness." Rodney reached up to snag it out of John's hand but John took a quick step back.

"Oh no, McKay. Not until you tell me why you took it off and left it in the lab last night." And freaked me out, but John wasn't planning on admitting that.

"Um, that wasn't exactly the first time. It was just the first time I got all the way back to our place before I remembered."

"I don't... Rodney, the rings were your idea."

"What part of in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, etcetera etcetera did you not understand," Rodney almost yelled. Moving faster that John had expected he managed to reclaim his ring. He quickly put it back on his finger and it made John feel about a thousand times better to see it where it belonged.

"As to why, metal and electricity do not mix, a fact of which I'm sure even you are aware. There's something very interesting about this metal, and we totally need to go back there and find some more because I really want to know what makes it conduct so well, it could be useful. But in the meantime, I kept getting shocked every time I worked on anything ancient, so unless you want to get to the death parting real quick, I think you'll agree that I made the right choice. Besides, I meant to put it back on when I was done."

And leave it to Rodney to snark about the thing that bothered him the most.

"Breathe, Rodney. I'm not mad. And we skipped that part, remember. You insisted."

"Oh right, we did, so totally not a loophole you can jump through."

"I wasn't the one jumping," John wasn't sure why he was still upset, he just knew that he was.

"John, I didn't mean to scare you, I promise." Rodney kissed him deeply while sliding a hand under John's shirt and teasing a nipple into hardness. His hand wandered farther down farther to rub circles around John's cock where it was tenting his pants.

"I think I need to make this up to you." He guided John into the chair and pushed his legs apart so he was sprawled out for the taking. Perfectly willing to let Rodney do whatever he wanted to him, John threw his head back and closed his eyes. He could feel Rodney's stubble as he rubbed his face against his covered cock.

Rodney's laugh told John that the other man had realized that he was going commando. John smirked and Rodney looked up at him and said, "I'm gonna get you to go off-world like that someday."

"You can try," John said, "but it's not gonna happen." It was an old argument between them and one of these days he was going to give in but he planned to keep leading McKay on for a while yet. The surprise would be so much sweeter for the wait.

The teasing turned into a moan as Rodney mouthed him through his pants. "Rodney," John begged.

"Shh, I got you. Gonna make it real good." John felt Rodney's strong, capable hands pulling down his zipper and freeing his cock to the air. Rodney's lips brushed his cock and the contact made John arch his back and push toward him.

Rodney slowly opened his lips and took John in, taking his time rubbing his tongue on the underside, tracing the vein and making John shiver. His other hand stroked up and down on the hard shaft and it took everything John had not to push all the way in.

John grabbed onto the arms of the chair and held on as Rodney swallowed him down. He was so close, and he swore he could feel Rodney's smile around his cock. Letting to with one hand, he reached down to stroke Rodney's face. John had been right, he could feel Rodney's mouth stretched around his cock--- working him, loving him and with a sharp cry John came.

It didn't take long for John to become too sensitive and he put his hands on Rodney's shoulders to bring him up for a kiss or three.

"Am I forgiven?" Rodney asked, sounding smug. He knew exactly how to take John apart and was always damn proud of it. Not that John had any complaints.

"I thought I owed you one."

"Who's counting? Anyway it's three."

"Three? Two. The jumper bay this morning and the one from five minutes ago which I will pay off now if you will shut up long enough.

"And the night on M7B-342 when we were so rudely interrupted."

"Ah yes, the you will come to our last minute midnight drumming ceremony. That was two weeks ago. And I remember fucking you in the shower after we got home."

"That totally doesn't count, you came too."

"Are we really gonna argue about this?" Of course they were, they argued about everything. And loved every minute of it.

He then realized Rodney hadn't come yet and that the movement of Rodney's body against John's was the other man reaching down to jerk himself off.

"Wait, stop. Rodney, come up here." John cleared off a space and motioned for Rodney to sit up on the lab table.

The bathrobe had long been discarded and John was treated to the sight of Rodney's bare chest, hard nipples and even harder cock poking out from the top of his sweatpants. John moved them out of the way enough so that he could run his hand up and down the entire length of Rodney's cock while reaching back to fondle his balls with the other. If the moaning coming out of Rodney's mouth was any indication, he was already pretty close to the edge. John teased him by rubbing his wedding ring under the ridge of the head of Rodney's cock.

"Tingly, " Rodney gasped.

John immediately stopped and pulled his hand away.

"Hey, what, come back here nobody said stop." Rodney was pawing at the air, trying to grab John's hands.

"Is it the metal, does it hurt?" John asked, worried.

"Felt good. I was on my way to an orgasm when someone left me hanging." Rodney opened his eyes to glare at John, then grabbed John's hand and moved it back onto his cock.

"Mmm, this is kinda hot," John murmured leaning into kiss Rodney as both their hands worked his cock. "Come for me, love," he ordered Rodney in a rough whisper, and he did, covering both their hands and part of John's chest.

"That was really good," Rodney told him and then promptly slid off the table and down to the floor in a boneless heap.

"One to go." John said softly with a gentle smile even though Rodney couldn't see him. And hundreds more after that in the years to come if John had anything to say about it. He reached over Rodney and used the edge of the bathrobe to clean up.

"No sleeping on the lab floor."

Rodney raised his head from where it was resting on John's knee and looked at him through half closed eyes. "Comfy," he murmured and then promptly put his head back down.

"I give you about five minutes before your complaining about your back," John said, stroking his hair.

Without moving, Rodney asked sleepily, "Come back to bed with me?"

"I'm not the one who got up in the first place," John grumbled good naturedly. "And you're actually going to have to move you know."

"'Kay," came the half hearted answer.

"Rodney!"

"I'm up. I'm up." In one surprisingly quick move, Rodney stood up and pulled John up from the chair as well.

"Now you're in a hurry," John teased, sliding an arm around Rodney's waist and pulling him close.

"You're a much comfier pillow lying in bed."

\-------------------------

Three days and an off-world mission to the planet of the impossible to get out green dirt later, John went Rodney hunting again. This time he found him in the engineering lab, hands buried in the wiring of a device of unknown origin and wedding ring almost buried in the pile of crystals on the table next to him.

Quickly palming the ring, John sidled up to Rodney and wrapped his arms around his chest, careful not to jostle him.

"Give me a second here, almost got this stupid thing connected, ha," Rodney said. He pulled his hands free and tossed a tiny screwdriver on a clear space on the counter. John pressed himself up against Rodney's broad back and enjoyed the play of Rodney's muscles under his hands.

"Hi," Rodney said.

"Hi yourself."

Rodney tilted his head back and their lips met in a long, deep kiss. When they broke apart John lifted his hands up and draped a silver chain around Rodney's neck, make sure the clasp was tightly closed.

"What's this?"

"Something to keep you from rushing out of our bed in the middle of the night."

Rodney reached up and fingered the metal links, then moved his hand down to where his ring hung. "Tell me it's not..." Rodney started and John knew what he was going to ask. Sumner's tags were still wrapped in a black cloth safe in a box on his closet shelf. There had been no one to send them back to and John had been determined to keep them in his memory.

"No, it's one of my spares," John said, dropping a soft kiss on his head.

"I'm really glad you thought of this. Thanks."

"You ready to go?"

"Go where?" Rodney asked.

"Mission today. You were at the meeting. You were even paying enough attention to complain. PX4-9Y5."

"Ah yes. The one with the purple grain."

"And the leaking aqueduct."

"Oh joy." Rodney started powering down and packing up his laptop. John handed him the case without him even needing to ask. They had ten minutes before they needed to be in the gateroom.

"And it's harvest time, and we need the trade."

"I thought your old anthem was purple mountains and amber waves of grain."

"That's God Bless America; hey, maybe Atlantis needs have her own anthem"

"Don't give Elizabeth any ideas." Rodney looked around the lab. "Okay, I think I'm ready."

John leaned over to kiss him. "Now you're ready. Let's go."

An unorthodox proposal, a stealth wedding, a lifetime of love. This was his life. And there wasn't a thing in the universe he'd trade it for.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for unamaga and chopchica's happy fest.
> 
> Thanks to masui and sonia6349 for their incredible beta work. Thank you so much for catching my stupid mistakes and offering invaluable suggestions. And thanks to my wonderful friends over at words_count. Your encouragement and handholding and patience in listening to me whine helped me more than I can ever express. I literally could not have finished this fic without you all.


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